A Proposed Bill Could Keep Billions of Ontario’s Beverage Containers Out of Landfills, Incinerators and the Environment

By Pepper Parr

November 19^th, 2024

BURLINGTON, ON

A Private Member’s Bill was announced in the provincial legislature this morning.

Mary-Margaret McMahon, MPP for Beaches-East York and Ontario Liberal Critic for The Environment and Climate Action, is tabling a Private Members’ Bill, Resource Recovery and Circular Economy Amendment Act (Beverage Container Deposit Program), 2024.

This bill would, if passed, establish a beverage container deposit return system (DRS) for non-alcoholic beverage containers in Ontario.

Ontario is falling behind in the fight against climate change after 6 years of Ford’s Conservative Government. “This common sense solution will improve our recycling rate and help keep our cities, parks, and water litter-free” said McMahon, “The Government failed to act on this important legislation when they dismantled the DRS working group, despite more than 80% of Ontarians being supportive of the proposition”.

All Canadian provinces except Ontario and Manitoba have a deposit-return system (DRS) for non-alcoholic beverage containers. Without a beverage container recycling program, Ontario maintains the country’s lowest non-alcoholic beverage container recovery rate for non-alcoholic beverage containers – which is stalled at 51%, according to the latest estimate provided by Circular Materials.

Most plastic bottles used for soft drinks and water are made from polyethylene terephthalate (Pet), which is highly recyclable.

Today, Environmental Defence is celebrating the introduction of the private member’s bill to expand deposit return to non-alcoholic drink containers. This is a common-sense policy solution to bottles and cans littered in parks, along roadways and in our lakes and rivers. It’s also a solution the vast majority of Ontarians support.

Shifting to a real circular economy for plastics is a massive opportunity to close the loop, save billions of dollars, and decouple plastics production from fossil fuel consumption.

Shamefully, Ontario is one of only two provinces in Canada without deposit return for non-alcoholic beverages, and as a result has the lowest drink container recycling rate in the country at only 43 per cent.

We encourage MPPs to support this bill’s quick passage through the Legislature so that work can get underway to keep billions of beverage containers out of Ontario’s landfills, incinerators and environment.

Burlington MPP Natalie Pierre has an opportunity to help an important environmental issue and show her constituents that she too believes the environment is important.

There is an opportunity, for those who give climate issues some thought, to lobby Burlington MPP Natalie Pierre to do one decent thing before she leaves office – vote for the bill.

Send the MPP a note at  Natalie@nataliepierrempp.ca  and ask her to put the environment before party politics and show us that she really did care about what constituents think.

Background:

• Policy research by Environmental Defence estimates that upwards of 1.7 billion plastic drink containers end up landfilled, littered or burned each year in Ontario due to the lack of a deposit-return system for non-alcoholic beverages.
• In 2023, the Ontario government established a stakeholder working group to explore expanding deposit return to include non-alcoholic beverage containers. This past summer, following vocal opposition from retailers, the government cancelled the working group and abandoned the policy.
• The Canadian Beverage Association, which represents big brands like Coca-Cola and Pepsi has come out in support of Ontario implementing an expanded deposit return.
• Polling commissioned by Environmental Defence from Abacus Data earlier this year found that 81 per cent of Ontarians support deposit return for non-alcoholic beverages, and more than half want to be able to return their empties to grocery and retail stores.
• Ontario and Manitoba are the only two provinces in Canada without deposit return for non-alcoholic beverage containers
• The provincial government has set regulated targets for beverage producers to collect and recycle or refill containers: 75 per cent by 2026 and 80 per cent by 2030. The only proven way to achieve these targets is deposit return with accessible return locations, including at stores where non-alcoholic beverages are sold.

ABOUT ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENCE (environmentaldefence.ca): Environmental Defence is a leading Canadian environmental advocacy organization that works with government, industry and individuals to defend clean water, a safe climate and healthy communities.